Pope John III

Pope John III (520-13 July 574), born Catelinus, was the Pope from 561 to 574, succeeding Pope Pelagius I and preceding Pope Benedict I.

== Biography =

Catelinus was born in 520 AD to Anastasius, a scion of a noble family of Romans. He was elected as Pope in 561 AD, and he took on the regnal name "John III". In 565 AD, Emperor Justinian I of Byzantium died, and the Byzantine Empire turned its attention from Rome to fight the Arabs, Avars, and Persians, who were raiding the Byzantine frontier in the Levant and Eastern Europe. In 568 AD, the Lombards invaded northern Italy and besieged Rome many times, and Arianism returned as a threat to Catholicism. John invited the Byzantine general Narses, who was preparing to return to Constantinople after John II of Byzantium recalled him (a popular petition over his aggressive taxation forced him out of Rome), back to Rome to take charge, and the people hated Narses for the taxes and John for bringing him back. John was forced to leave the Vatican and live in the catacombs, where he consecrated bishops and performed other holy duties.